In a 3-2 vote, with one abstention, the Atlanta Zoning Committee voted to approve proposed legislation that would oust adult businesses along Cheshire Bridge Road by 2018.
Voting in favor were Keisha Lance Bottoms, chair of the committee; Alex Wan, co-chair and sponsor of the legislation; and Carla Smith. Voting no were Howard Shook and Ivory Lee Young. Joyce Sheperd, who arrived late to the meeting, abstained.
Next stop for the controversial legislation that has been amended numerous times before it was decided to focus solely on strip clubs and sex stores is the full City Council on June 3.
A petition popped up this week on change.org urging the Atlanta City Council to banish adult businesses on Cheshire Bridge Road.
Posted to the popular website by a group calling itself "Concerned Atlanta Residents" and made up of people living in the area, the petition states, "Adult businesses are incompatible with residential neighborhoods. Our neighborhoods were here decades before the adult businesses started appearing on Cheshire Bridge through a series of zoning loopholes and poor decisions/enforcement by the City of Atlanta."